had broken the crust of the
earth. Hundreds of men were now walking over the open in all
directions. German prisoners were being hurried back in scores.
Wounded men, stretcher-bearers and men following up the advance were
seen on all sides, and on the ground lay the bodies of friends and
foes who had passed to the Great Beyond. I met a British staff officer
coming back from the front, who told me he belonged to Army
Headquarters. He asked me if I was a Canadian, and when I replied that
I was, he said, "I congratulate you upon it." I reminded him that
British artillery were also engaged in the attack and should share in
the glory. "That may be", he said, "but, never since the world began
have men made a charge with finer spirit. It was a magnificent
achievement."

Our burial parties were hard at work collecting the bodies of those
who had fallen, and the chaplains were with them. I met some of the
battalions, who, having done their part in the fighting, were coming
back. Many of them had suffered heavily and the mingled feelings (p. 170)
of loss and gain chastened their exaltation and tempered their sorrow.
I made my way over to the ruins of the village of Thelus on our left,
and there I had my lunch in a shell hole with some men, who were
laughing over an incident of the attack. So sudden had been our
advance that a German artillery officer who had a comfortable dugout
in Thelus, had to run away before he was dressed. Two of our men had
gone down into the dugout and there they found the water in the
wash-basin still warm and many things scattered about in confusion.
They took possession of everything that might be of use including some
German war maps, and were just trying to get a very fine telephone
when two other of our men hearing voices in the dugout and thinking
the enemy might still be there, threw down a smoke bomb which set fire
to the place. The invaders had to relinquish their pursuit of the
telephone and beat a hasty retreat. Smoke was still rising from the
dugout when I saw it and continued to do so for a day or two.

Our signallers were following up the infantry and laying wires over
the open. Everyone was in high spirits. By this time the retreating
Germans had got well beyond the crest of the Ridge and across the
valley. It was about six o'clock in the evening when I reached our
final objective, which was just below the edge of the hill. There our
men were digging themselves in. It was no pleasant ta